The TV series, 'Winnetka Road' went on air in 1994. Aaron Spelling believed, "I think it's a departure from 'Dynasty' because this has a sense of humor about it. No matter how bad life is going, we always have time to laugh at ourselves - we never laughed on 'Dynasty.'" Shown on Saturday nights at 10:00pm, 'Winnetka Road' attracted between 10 and 14 share (or between 10% and 14% of the available viewers aged 18-to-54-years-old). "Sure, it's a soap. But it's a biodegradable soap!" Ed Begley Jr. told the Associated Press. Aaron added, "Procter & Gamble was the first one interested in this show and is one of the show's biggest sponsors; so is AT&T, and so is General Motors. So it's not just lipsticks, and it's not just McDonald's. That's very important."
Created by John Byrum, Josh Brolin told 'TV Data Technologies', "I think his take on characters is a little off-kilter. It's not as off-kilter as, say, David Lynch in 'Twin Peaks' or something, but I think he takes contemporary issues of interior characters . . . and he tries to externalize that in a different kind of twist. I think we're at a point right now in the '90s where we're not too sure what life is all about. And I think its perfectly mirrors that."
Ed maintained, "It’s not like the '80s, where everybody's doing well. Here everybody's emotionally or financially on the rocks." Meg Tilly observed, "It's like relationships in the '90s where you're trying to make things work, and yet, it's like, you don't know what you're supposed to do or what roles you're supposed to be in. It's not like in the '50s, where a man does this and a woman does that." Ed concurred, "That's interesting stuff to investigate . . . We are lost! We don’t have a compass!"
'Winnetka Road' "was about relationships, but it wasn't selling you whitewashed relationships, where everything's hunky-dory. It was like relationships I have.
Everything's all mixed up and it's kind of confusing. And I like that, and I like the idea that you keep on going and you keep developing." Catherine Hicks saw John Byrum "is still fighting for the '60s dream, meaning that at that time there was hope that we would not go the way of American big business. People would bake bread and feel happy. It's cliché now, but at the time it was an amazing, joyful realization. And there was so much hope for maybe everyone finding more happiness in their lives. If you saw the shows, you would see there is a vision, and it's John Byrum's vision, and again it's what attracted us."
Megan Ward remarked, "All of my characters know they want something. The character I played on 'Winnetka Road' was the first mature woman I ever played. And she was incredibly direct and ambitious. I think there's a reason why I've gotten these roles. There's something about me that's very ambitious. When I audition for those roles, directors believe it. But I'm pretty balanced. At least, I'm balanced in a really neurotic way."
On reflection, Ed made the observation, "There's no distinction now (in 1994) for me between TV and films. You see Robert Duvall and Anjelica Huston doing TV. You see people of that ilk doing material they think is compelling, whether it is big screen or small screen."
Advertising Age: How do you feel about the information superhighway TV dramas?
Aaron Spelling: I don't think that superhighway is upon us at all. I think it's a long way off. Do you know how hard it is now to program 4 channels? What the hell are they going to put on the superhighway to program 500 of them?
Will they go back to the past and take everything that hasn't run in 10 years and rerun it? That's what they're already doing on cable.
Aaron also made the comment, "It's a new business out here now. I remember when we used to do 39 shows a year. When I was with TriStar, we did 26, 23 or 22. Then there was a rule that the network couldn't order less than 13.
Now (in 1994), it's different. They order 6 then run 5 as they did with 'Winnetka Road,' and what do you do? You spend a fortune on a pilot, and if they pick up 6, at least you can amortize the cost of that pilot.
I do think it's much more difficult in a serial like 'Winnetka Road' to establish everyone in 6 episodes and start all those triangles with all those vixens because it takes time to establish the characters."
